AUGUST’S SWEET HARVEST — GO FIG!

It’s both harvest and festival time for this sweet, delicate fruit

Fig Fest 2013

Celebrate summer’s sweetest treat

What: More than 40 local chefs, bakers and food purveyors will stir up a feast of delicacies made with fresh and dried figs to go along with wines and craft beers from California and Baja’s best winemakers and breweries.

Hosted by: California Fig Advisory Board, the San Diego Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier and the new San Diego Public Market.

Fig varieties

Adriatic: Pale green to yellowish-green skinned fruit with a raspberry pink interior. They are similar to the Calimyrna but are usually smaller and very sweet. Adriatics are most frequently dried.

Black Mission: Velvety purplish-black skinned with a ruby-red heart, this variety was the first fig introduced by Spanish priests founding the California mission system. The trees were originally planted around 1769 at Mission San Diego. Black Mission figs are very sweet and almost jammy when ripe. Popular fresh and dried.

Brown Turkey: Fat and round with reddish-brown skins and a pale pink interior. Moist and sweet, Brown Turkeys are great choices for baking.

Calimyrna: Fairly plump with greenish-yellow skin and amber flesh, the Calimyrna — a descendant of the Turkish Smyrna — has a thick skin, which is often peeled when eaten fresh. Not overly sweet, with a buttery, nutty flavor, the Calimyrna is very popular dried.

Kadota: Thicker, green-skinned figs with a silky, interior. Kadotas are often canned but are lovely served fresh wrapped in prosciutto.

Inventive ways to enjoy fig season

•Slice figs into quarters and toss with arugula, slivers of prosciutto and balsamic or sherry vinaigrette.

•Sauté halved figs in butter and sugar, deglaze pan with a splash of bourbon or dark rum and serve warm over ice cream or with a dollop of mascarpone cheese.

•Infuse bourbon: In a large Mason jar, completely cover quartered mission figs (fresh or dried) with bourbon. Add a cinnamon stick, a blade of mace, a few whole cloves and a strip of orange zest. Seal and let the bourbon age in a cool, dark place for a month. Strain the bourbon and discard fruit and spices. Sip straight or use in cocktails.

About the author

Jill O’Connor is a local San Diego food writer, pastry chef and author of six cookbooks, including “Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.” She lives in Coronado with her husband and two daughters.

as summer creeps to an end, I start to wilt under the glare of the hot August sun, and visions of beaches and bright-blue swimming pools distract me. But Mother Nature holds out a reward for surviving the hottest summer weather — her most sensuous of fruits, the fig, is in season.